Zainul Haque Sikder, a true patriot in the core and a close confidante of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on the evening of the 25th March, 1971 was in Jaydevpur when he came to know that Pakistani occupation forces would march on Dhaka city on that night. He at once called Haji Shaheb of Jashore, who used to stay at Bangabandhu’s residence round the clock, and informed him of the situation.
Zainul Haque Sikder also hurriedly went to the residence of Bangabandhu, met with him and urged upon him to leave the residence and come with them. Bangabandhu refused to go with them as saying that he would do what he must do. AT the same time he called upon Zainul Haque Sikder and others present there to do everything to repulse the Pakistani attack on the innocent Bengalees on that night.
Zainul Haque Sikder, along with others came back accordingly and created a barricade at Road No. 15 of Satmasjid Road area. At about 11pm Pakistani army came there and started removing the barricade. Right at that moment Zainul Haque Sikder and the group with him started firing by a double barrel gun from the rooftop of an adjacent building. Two Pak soldiers were shot dead. When the Pak army started firing violently at them, Zainul Haque Sikder and his group retreated from the battle on strategic ground and came back home at around 1am. After midnight Pak army started all-out attack everywhere in Dhaka city. Sheikh Kamal’s friend Firoj came to Zainul Haque Sikder at about 5am and informed him that the Pak army arrested Bangabandhu at around 1am.
On March 27 Zainul Haque Sikder arranged safe passage of veteran political leader Tajuddin Ahmed, Barrister Amirul Islam and Chhatra League leader Nure Alam Siddiqui to Ati across the river. At noon three Pak army trucks and one jeep loaded with nearly 150 soldiers raided Zainul Haque Sikder’s house at Rayer Bazar and he luckily escaped from being caught by the them. Zainul Haque Sikder reached Melaghor of India at the middle of June and met Captain Shaukat, Khaled Mosharraf and Haider. On reaching Kolkata he met Tajuddin Ahmed. He asked Zainul Haque Sikder to stary there and bring his wife and family members there from his village home of Kartikpur. He did not agree and told him that he would go back home and participate in the War of Liberation actively.
He reached Melaghor again and met Commander of Sector No. 2 Khaled Mosharraf and Colonel Shaukat. Khaled Mosharraf told him to work in Dhaka but he did not agree as Pakistani amry was looking for him there. Then Colonel Shaukat told him to go back home and try to form Akkas Bahini, after the name of the great martyr with the help of retired EPR and police members under the command of Subedar Joynal Abedin, and requested him to shoulder the responsibilities of supervising all of them. Zainul Haque Sikder liked the idea and took all the responsibilities of Akkas Bahini working in Shariatpur.
Capturing Naria Mania
The freedom fighters captured the Naria thana at the beginning of September. As per earlier planning of Zainul Haque Sikder, Akkas Force commander Jainal Abedin and FF commander Moti Mia attacked Naria thana. On the day of attack, Zainul Haque Sikder met Subedar Zainal Abedin and Moti in a strategic meeting secretly at midnight inside a school premise four miles away from the thana headquarters to launch the assault on the enemy. Everybody advanced towards the target after the plan was finalized. A total of 80 fighters composed of liberation forces and freedom fighters took part in the skirmish. They had two LMGs, one two-inch mortar, many rifles and SLRs. Total weapons carried by the attackers were 80. Zainul Haque Sikder was the mastermind and central commander. The soldiers were divided into two groups: Akkas force under Subedar Zainal Abedin's command and FFs under the command of Naria thana commander Moti Mia. The two groups attacked the target from two sides at about five in the morning.
Naria thana police and rajakars took strong shelter in their bunkers. They were about 40 in number. They had LMGs and rifles as well. As the freedom fighters opened fire on them, the enemy also fired back from their bunkers. After about one hour of exchange of bullets between the warring parties, Zainul Haque Sikder asked the freedom fighter Alamgir to advance forward in order to call upon the enemy to surrender but he did not do so. So Zainul Haque Sikder himself advanced forward and shouted toward the enemy, 'Hands up'. The officer-in-charge of Naria thana responded to his call and surrendered raising his two hands. Nearly 30 police and rajakars were killed in the battle. All the weapons of this thana were captured by the freedom fighters who won the battle convincingly. Nayek Abdur Rashid and EPR Nayek Abdur Rashid of Gosairhat also took part in this combat.
Captur-ing Bhedergonj Thana
The Pak army had a strong outpost in Bhedergonj thana combining a good number of police and rajakars. The freedom fighters had been planning to attack them long since. Finally October 10 was fixed as the day of attack. Zainul Haque Sikder along with Captain Babul, Zainal Abedin and Abdul Mannan Rarhi prepared the blue print of attack in a meeting inside a school building close to Bhedergonj thana.
It was a major assault by the freedom fighters composed of 300 fighters from different sections of liberation forces. There were three strategic groups under three commanders. They were the Akkas Force led by Subedar Zainal Abedin, FFs led by Abdul Manna Rarhi and one hundred well-trained armed forces led by Captain Babul. Captain Babul's forces took position on the eastern side of the thana, and Abdul Mannan's FFs were posted on the southern street to repulse the enemy who might advance from Damudya. On the other hand, Akkas Force along with remaing fighters started the attack on the thana from the north under the command of Zainul Haque Sikder and Subedar Zainul Abedin.
At 4 AM, October 10, the battle started under Zainul Haque Sikder's call. The battle continued fiercely for 22 hours. When the attack rose to its climax at midnight, the police and rajakar forces inside the thana were compelled to surrender to the freedom fighters. A total of 87 police and rajakars were killed, whereas from the freedom fighters' side the only martyr was Habilder Mohiuddin Sardar. All the weapons were captured and the flag of the independent Bangla was hoisted there.
Capturing Palong Thana
A few days before the assault, Palong Thana Commander Idris Master went to the camp ofAkkas Force and requested Zainul Haque Sikder and Subedar Zainal Abedin to launch the attack on this police station. On the day fixed for the attack, Zainul Haque Sikder, Zainal Abedin and Idris Master again met at a house one mile away from the police station and advanced for their assult.
Their attacking forces got divided into three groups and advanced from three directions under the command of Subedar Jainal Abedin, Idris Master and FF commander Abul Quashem. The battle started at the night of September 13. When the freedom fighters took their position for the attack, Wireless Operator Salek Khan was talking to the Officer-in-Charge of the police station. A young boy went to the thana and signaled him to come out.
As soon as he did so, the attack started in full swing. Mujib Bahini thana commander Fazal Master along with his forces took part in this battle. More than one hundred freedom fighters carried 4 LMGs, 2 two-inch mortars and other fire arms Thousands of militant people led by the veteran political activisi., Sirajul Islam, Zafor, Jalal Master and Salek Khan raised 'Joi Bain, slogan in a tumultuous chorus that frightened the police forc and rajakars loyal to Pak army. Completely demoralized, the surrendered without much resistance. Fifty five police and rajakar. were killed in the combat. The freedom fighters took possession 01 all the firearms of this police station.
